My review of the i-mate JAM
was posted in February, and I thought it would be quite some time before I found
another device that rivaled the size and power of that Phone Edition model.
I expected the challenger to be another HTC device, something like the JAM 2,
but I was surprised by another manufacturer's product.

ETEN brought out the M500 in late 2004, and it has now been rebranded with
an updated firmware for distribution in North America as the TORQ
P100 from Sound Solutions.
One of the lowlights of the JAM was the ROM size, and the TORQ P100 now gives
you 128 MB of ROM at an even lower cost than the JAM. The TORQ currently ships
with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, but sources keep stating that a Windows
Mobile 5.0 upgrade will be provided, and the device definitely has the specs
to handle it.

I have been playing with the TORQ P100 for a couple of weeks, and I am having
a very tough time trying to decide if I want to purchase this at a price I can
safely swallow or wait to purchase the HTC Wizard (JAM 2) device for about 33%
more. The one concern I have with the Wizard is the likely 195MHz processor,
compared to the 400MHz variant in the TORQ.

Adding a TORQ wrench
to my toolkit

In the box
The TORQ P100 came in a black box designed with the TORQ logo and "Say
Something" tag line. TORQ does a good job of providing buyers with everything
they need, including a colorful, detailed Quick Start Guide, a CD containing
ActiveSync and Outlook, an AC adapter, a USB sync/charge cable, a cradle, a
1440 mAh battery, a stereo headset, a belt slip-case with lanyard, a stylus,
and, of course, the P100.

Inside the box

Quick Start Guide

The specs of the TORQ P100 are quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS, about
40 MB usable RAM, 82.73 MB usable ROM, Samsung S3C2440A 400MHz processor, integrated
Bluetooth 1.2 with modified Microsoft stack, and 240x320 QVGA display. The device
is perfectly configured for an upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0, and I hope it
comes out soon. The RAM should increase while the ROM may decrease with a WM
5.0 upgrade, but both are more than adequate--too much RAM just decreases the
battery life anyway.

Initial impressions
When I first opened the box I was impressed with the quality of the device,
and I thought the cradle was quite unique.

The device is a bit thicker than the JAM. For comparison, the JAM is 5.8 x
10.8 x 1.81 cm and weighs 160 grams, while the TORQ is 6.1 x 11.2 x 2.2 cm and
weighs in at 170 grams. It is very similar in size to the Sony Ericsson P910a
device.

TORQ P100 next to the
Sony Ericsson P910a

TORQ and P910a thickness
comparison

My business card on
the TORQ

The cradle looks a bit like a flying saucer and is similar to the Sony Ericsson
P910 cradle. I immediately connected the AC adapter to the sync cable and then
plugged it into the cradle. One thing I didn't like was that you could not plug
the AC adapter directly into the cradle or device, instead having to use the
USB cable. This means you can't leave the USB cable at work and the cradle at
home without buying another cable.

After charging the device to 100% I put in my SIM card and turned it on. The
screen is very bright and the device seemed zippier than the JAM was with no
applications loaded. I was immediately impressed by the large suite of software
included on the device, which I later found was a very strong feature of the
overall package.

By default the TORQ was put on the 900/1800 band, and with T-Mobile I am on
the 1900 band. I didn't even know there was a utility for selecting this, and
after I did I swear I received better reception and call quality. I also installed
Spb Pocket Plus 3.0 right away, but I had issues with funky notifications and
other bugs that were fixed immediately upon removal of this utility application.
I am sure Spb will fix the issues with the device, and I may try to reinstall
it later.

Phone band settings

Hardware and accessories
The TORQ P100 looks fairly standard on the front, with four hardware buttons
(two are dedicated to operating the phone), a directional pad with center action
button, indicator lights (Bluetooth on the left and charging/phone on the right),
and the phone speaker in the center above the display. There is also the TORQ
logo on the front, above the display and below the phone speaker. The round
directional pad works well but is a bit small and isn't really designed for
serious gaming. The left hardware button is mapped to the Speed Dial utility
and the right is mapped to M-Desk, both of which I talk about in the software
section below. I would like to have seen a couple of other buttons that could
have been used with the Windows Mobile 5.0 soft keys.

The TORQ P100 in hand

Hardware buttons under
display

The display is the smaller 2.8-inch type seen on the JAM with a 240x320 QVGA
resolution. It looks awesome and is very bright, with crisp fonts and rich colors.
There is no yellow tint like that seen on some HTC devices in the past.

Brightness settings

There is nothing at all on the right side (looking at the front of the device),
but on the left side you will find quite a collection of things, including (from
left to right) a camera hardware button, volume slider, Voice Commander activation
button, a recessed reset button, and a 2.5 mm headset jack. Buttons 1 (Voice
Commander) and 4 (camera) can be reassigned to other applications if you desire.
You can also program the press and hold function of button 1 (set to Record
by default).

Left side

The microphone, cradle/cable connector, and end of the stylus silo are found
along the bottom. Yes, that's right, the stylus comes out of the bottom of this
device. I think this is the first handheld I've had with this type of design,
and after using the TORQ for a couple of weeks it hasn't been an issue for me
at all. The stylus locks in very well, and the end is formed to match the curve
of the device, with two bumps to help make it easy to take out of the silo.

Bottom

The top contains the Secure Digital slot, infrared port, and power button.
It is nice to see SD still being used, and putting the slot at the top makes
it convenient for using an SD Wi-Fi card. The power button is a bit recessed
on the right side, and I never accidentally turned it on during my evaluation.
I like this type of design since I often put devices in my pocket and don't
like it when the power button is accidentally pressed.

Top

On the top right side of the back in the black plastic zone, you will find
the 1.3-megapixel camera with a self-portrait mirror under it and a very poor
flash above the camera. I found the flash to be quite useless and just turned
it off after taking several bad photos. The camera does well in good lighting,
but not nearly as well as the Nokia 7610's great 1.3-megapixel camera.

Below the camera mirror is the speaker that plays onboard sounds and music
as well as serving as the speakerphone for calls.

The bottom half is silver plastic with bumps for better gripping, and below
that is a button to release the back cover. Under the cover is where you will
find the 1440 mAh Li-Ion battery with a lock/unlock button to secure it in place.
You have to remove the battery (removing the stylus helps) to access the area
on the left for your SIM card. Spb Benchmark testing showed a battery life of
4 hours, 32 minutes for maximum backlight with regular usage. This is quite
good considering you rarely will need the backlight at maximum since the display
is so bright; my tests of an extended life 2200 mAh battery for the Axim X50v
resulted in about the same benchmark result.

Back

Open back showing stylus
and SIM slot

Battery with lock/unlock
switch

The cradle is quite geeky and a bit lighter than I expected. The TORQ sits
on the front area, and there is a slot to charge an extra battery as well as
a recession in which you can place your stylus. An indicator light glows red
when the second battery is charging, and it changes to green when charging is
complete. As I stated earlier, I really do not like the cabling system to connect
the cradle since it forces you to buy more cables if you have a home and work
computer you desire to connect and sync with. There is a USB slot on the back
of the cradle that may be used for connecting USB peripherals, but there are
no drivers available to take advantage of this function.

The cradle

The unusual cable arrangement

TORQ in the cradle

See the 2nd battery and
stylus slots?

The stylus is the best I have ever tried on a mobile device in my 8 years of
using them. It is a telescoping metal design that is very well weighted, and
it has a comfortable diameter for holding between your fingers. It also has
a nice long plastic tip and is secured very well in the bottom/back silo.

The Axim X50, TORQ, and
Tungsten T3 styli

The included carrying case is a fabric and leather horizontal slip case design
with a metal loop for attaching the included lanyard. The case top flips closed
and stays securely closed with two strong round magnets. It offers minimal protection
around the sides of the device, though, and is primarily useful for carrying
the TORQ on your belt with the snap belt closure.

The included case

Magnetic flip open

While the TORQ uses a Microsoft Bluetooth stack to manage the radio, it has
been modified and customized to be much more useful. A Today screen icon gets
you into the Bluetooth manager, where you will find 5 tabs to navigate through.
Pairing with devices is quick and easy after setting the device to discoverable.
GPS users and other Bluetooth fans will find a nice serial port setup utility
in the Bluetooth manager, and you can also designate a Bluetooth headset. I
was able to quickly connect to my headsets and GPs without any issues. While
the TORQ does not include the A2DP profile, it does have an audio gateway that
allows you to have the sound from the device play through a Bluetooth headset.
The most powerful Bluetooth feature for me was the ability to control the device
through my Bluetooth headset using the included Voice Commander software, which
I talk about in the software section below.

Bluetooth Manager first
tab

Setting up Bluetooth
serial ports

Headset tab in the Bluetooth
manager

The 1.3-megapixel camera takes decent photos in good lighting, but will definitely
not replace your dedicated digital camera. You can take still or video images
with the camera and store them on external cards or internal flash areas. The
flash is really useless and did nothing to help me take a photo in low light.
I do not expect much in a camera mounted on a phone, but have been spoiled lately
with the excellent Nokia 7610 camera that takes very good photos.

Pike Place Market flowers

Seattle mural

2x zoom of same mural

Software
The TORQ currently comes with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, and I hope
that Windows Mobile 5.0 is around the corner.

Like the Smart Dial utility that was preinstalled on the JAM, the TORQ comes
with its own Speed Dial utility to assist with dialing functionality on the
Phone Edition device. There are two modes: Frequency dial and Index dial. Frequency
dial shows your most recent calls in a grid three squares wide and four squares
tall. The bottom two right squares are arrows to move through different screens.
The gird is designed so you can easily use this dialing method with only a finger.
Index dial shows a grid four squares wide and 6 squares tall, with each letter
of the alphabet. Tapping on a letter takes you to another filtered grid like
Frequency dialing, with the first and last names starting with the letter you
tapped. I found Speed Dial to be well designed for helping me to dial quickly
and use the device with a single hand for phone functionality. You can also
change the text type and size along with the background color.

Image Maker, Image Wizard, Multimedia Manager, and Camera can all be found
in the default Multimedia folder in the Programs section of the device. Image
Maker is a painting-type application with several tools and options that lets
you either modify an existing photo or create your own drawing from scratch.
The Image Wizard takes you through a 5-step process with an image and lets you
modify it with little cartoons, sketches, and more. The Multimedia Manager allows
you to manage your photos, videos, and music in a single interface. The Camera
software controls the onboard 1.3-megapixel camera and offers quite a large
assortment of options for taking photos.

Multimedia Manager

Image Wizard

The Call Filter, SIM Manager, Wireless Modem, MMS Composer, Send SMS, and Speed
Dial utilities can be found in the Phone folder in the Programs section of the
device. Call Filter allows you to set up block and allow lists, as well as setting
how to handle those calls. SIM Manager is a handy way to manage all your SIM
contacts. You can use your TORQ as a wireless modem either via IR or Bluetooth
using the handy Wireless Modem utility. I do not use text messaging, but there
are MMS Composer and Send SMS applications that you may find quite useful, and
they should save you having to install another third-party application.

Call Filter

Wireless Modem

There is still more provided with the TORQ in the Utilities folder, where you
will find the Backup Utility, Configuration Wizard, Format FlashDisk, M-Desk,
and Self Test. The Backup Utility has a nicer user interface and includes plenty
of options, including auto backup on low battery warning and scheduled backups.
The Configuration Wizard helps you set up your Phone settings (e.g., ring type,
volume), button assignment, text size, and backlight and carrier connection
settings. Your TORQ should start up with the Configuration Wizard the first
time it is turned on. The Format FlashDisk simply allows you to scan or reformat
the 84 MB or so of usable ROM called Flash Disk. M-Desk is mapped to the Home
hardware button by default; it's a launcher application with tabbed structure.
You cannot alter the four tabs (Phone, PDA, Fun, and System), but you can select
which applications appear on each tab and the background image on each tab.
You can also quickly switch profiles, turn the speakerphone on or off, and connect
to your Bluetooth headset. Self Test allows you to run diagnostic testing on
your device, and it's a cool, geeky option.

Backup Utility

Configuration Wizard

M-Desk

One weakness in the Phone Edition devices compared to their Smartphone cousins
is the lack of profiles. Well, the TORQ comes with a Scenarios utility that
lets you set up four different profiles (General, Meeting, Outdoor, and Silent),
accessed via a handy icon on the bottom of the Today screen and also on the
M-Desk launcher. You can choose your phone and PDA volumes, vibration on/off,
Smart Voice (where the device announces whom is calling through the earphone
or earphone and speaker), and backlight settings. I had to do this on the JAM
with a third-party application, and it is great to see it integrated into the
TORQ. I hope to see this on future Phone Edition devices as well.

Scenarios

Ring settings

Backlight settings in
Scenarios

The final application, and one of the most powerful, included in the TORQ as
an addition to the OS is called Voice Commander. This is different than the
Voice Command application from Microsoft that may be included in Windows Mobile
5.0 Phone Edition devices. Voice Commander comes from Cyberon
Corporation, and it lets you use voice commands to call contacts, find contacts,
dial digits, start applications, have your appointments read to you, and have
your e-mail or SMS messages read to you. While I liked Voice Command from Microsoft,
I wanted the ability to have my e-mails read to me while driving since I am
a huge data fan, and that is missing in Voice Command. Another feature that
I have not seen on any Windows Mobile device is the ability to control and use
Voice Commander from a Bluetooth headset. I was able to use it like a champ
from my Cardo Scala 500 headset, but the GN Netcom 6210 would not activate Voice
Commander for some reason. This functionality alone is very important to people
and may push them to try the TORQ P100. Recognition worked well for me, and
I only had to repeat myself a few times.

Voice Commander

Application voice settings

Setting up Voice Commander

There are also a couple of utilities on the device that don't tie to specific
applications. The first noticeable one is the small battery level indicator
that appears just under the clock in the top bar of the device. The other is
the Quick Link item that appears on the Today screen. You can add applications
to the quick launcher, change the size and number of lines, and change the order
in which the icons appear on your Today screen. It isn't as full featured as
Spb Pocket Plus, but it is handy for quickly launching applications and is part
of the installed ROM package.

Quick Link settings

Daily usage experiences
There was a lot of discussion about lousy T-Mobile reception on the ETEN M500
(sister to the TORQ) and earlier ROM versions. I used the TORQ P100 exclusively
with T-Mobile and found reception to be quite good. I used only the TORQ for
a weekend camping/soccer tournament in a rather rural area of Washington State
and received one to three bars all weekend. I was surprised that I got that
degree of coverage, and have no complaints about T-Mobile and the TORQ.

Battery life has been great, all call volumes and speakerphone volumes have
been clear and loud, and the device hasn't reset on me once even though I threw
quite a bit of software at it to test it out. The TORQ has a nice form factor,
and I enjoyed carrying it around for the trial period.

If I weren't such a thumb-keyboard fan I would keep the TORQ for myself, and
I may go back to it if the Wizard doesn't work out, since the TORQ's software
suite and quality are excellent.

Reseller experiences
David Weiniger, a.k.a. Mad Monkey Boy, asked me if I wanted to the review the
TORQ P100, and he was kind enough to have Sound Solutions send me a unit for
a few weeks to check out. He offered to sell it to me, but I am leaning towards
going with the Wizard since I am such a huge thumb-keyboard fan. If you are
in the market for a Windows Mobile Smartphone or Phone Edition device, I highly
recommend you visit David's site and
browse through the store. He is trustworthy and has some of the best prices
on the Internet.

Conclusion
As an engineer, how can I not love the name TORQ? I am still not sold on the
"Say Something" tagline, but that is just marketing fluff. The TORQ
is a powerful handheld with everything you could want (except Wi-Fi) in a compact
Phone Edition device at a very reasonable cost. If you are not a thumb-keyboard
fan then I recommend you take a good look at the TORQ running Windows Mobile
5.0.

I debated whether a thumb-keyboard was worth the increased cost because I am
very fast with MessagEase and Fitaly and am leery of how well Microsoft integrated
the keyboard in the new OS. However, I am also a guy who likes to have unique,
cutting edge devices, so I plan on going for the HTC Wizard; if its 195MHz processor
doesn't cut it, I'll be back to the dependable TORQ P100.

Ratings Defense
I give the TORQ P100 the full 5 Geekheads for Quality because even though it
is plastic (instead of metal like the JAM), it is very well constructed, has
an incredible software suite that makes it even more functional, includes 128
MB ROM and 64 MB RAM with a speedy 400MHz Samsung processor, has a long battery
life, and has been rock stable in my few weeks of testing.

For Geekness I award the TORQ 4 Geekheads because there is so much packed into
this small package and it has a cool Geeky name. I would have given it a higher
rating if Wi-Fi were integrated, but I don't plan on using Wi-Fi much anyway
since the phone reception works almost everywhere I need it to and I have a
Tablet PC for home Wi-Fi use. The lack of EDGE knocked it down a bit, too, though,
since these networks are rolling out in the US, and if the device isn't going
to have Wi-Fi it should have the ability to get higher speed wireless data access.

The TORQ P100 is a better choice than the JAM, and since it tops my favorite
compact Phone Edition device I had to award the TORQ a Geek.com
Pick!